I worked on two main projects. For the first project, I created one-page summaries of Keysight’s interactions and relationships with our strategic colleges and universities. I centralized the worldwide data, analyzed it, then created meaning out of that data. Using the Computer Science skills I learned from school, I streamlined and automated the process of generating the one-pagers. I was able to use all of the Computer Science skills I learned from school to make the project as successful as possible.

My second project was much more ambiguous and creative. I was asked to construct a social media campaign, but was given the freedom to create my own approach. It required research and looking at data then asking the right questions to make meaning out of my findings.

If you could spend time at another Keysight location, where would you go and why?

I would love to go to the Santa Rosa site. I hear they have boxing classes and it’s my favorite hobby.

How does your role at Keysight complement your major and vice versa?

During my internship, I was able to utilize problem solving skills I learned at UC Berkeley. My role at Keysight complemented my major as it allowed me to creatively approach marketing projects from a technical perspective. For example, one of my projects required me to create one pagers of pertinent corporate information. Although it was not required of me, I was able to streamline and automate the process of creating the one pagers, which clearly required knowledge from my Computer Science courses.

What do you like best about working with your team?

My team is amazing! They are some of the funniest and smartest people I’ve ever met. The best thing about my team is how collaborative and helpful they were. Even though we all had our own projects, everyone was willing to make time for suggestions on my projects. I also really appreciated how well our personalities and different skillsets meshed together. This enabled us to be creative on projects we collaborated on as well as continue bonding even outside of work.

What’s something you’ve learned while at Keysight?

While interning at Keysight, I had the opportunity to work with individuals around the globe. I learned about cultural differences and how to effectively navigate them. I also learned that flexibility is crucial when working in a global company. Sometimes global meetings are scheduled at odd times, so you won't work a typical 9-5. I preferred starting work early and leaving early -- this gave me the chance to work around my coworkers’ schedules in the UK and catch an early boxing class after work. Keysight supported my choice and allowed me to have flexibility over my own schedule.

If you could give one piece of advice to future interns, what would it be?

Step out of your comfort zone and explore! I was very scared to relocate from California for my internship, but it has been one of the most rewarding and fulfilling summers I have ever had. It would not have turned out this way if I did not push myself to step outside of my comfort zone.

What has surprised you most about interning at Keysight?

I was surprised by how invested Keysight is in my career path and personal growth beyond my internship. I was introduced to different groups at Keysight, and I was able to asses if they might be a good fit for me in the future. It was refreshing to be given this opportunity as well as be able to speak with my manager about other Keysight groups that interest me.

Any funny stories you’d like to share about your Keysight experience?

I lived my entire life in California where if you want to see snow you have to drive to it. I love hot weather, so I never visited the snow. Of course, in my first week interning at Keysight in Colorado, it decided to snow. I found out that I am definitely the slowest driver on the road when it’s snowing and that sneakers are not snow shoes. Luckily, my team was able to work from home for the rest of the week instead of struggling in the snow!

Most of my projects are professor-related because I’m working in Keysight’s University Program Department. Right now, I’m updating the content on Keysight’s Education Corner website, working with other teams to develop content and updating the site’s design.

If you could spend time at another Keysight location, where would you go and why?

I would go to the location in Italy. I hear they make fresh pizza in their cafeteria. (I’ve always been very motivated by food!)

How does your role at Keysight complement your major and vice versa?

While I don’t have an engineering background, I’m quickly picking up what Keysight does and the solutions it provides. There is a lot of cross over between my major as well because I have been gathering a lot of information for Keysight, which is closely linked to some classes I have taken. I’ve also taken HCI and social media classes in my major, which have been very helpful with marketing.

What do you like best about working with your team?

There are two other interns on my team, which has been very helpful. Even though all of us have different projects going on, we’re able to bounce ideas off each other and work together so that we’re all successful at the end of the internship.

What’s something you’ve learned while at Keysight?

No one is expected to know everything in the company. Everyone has a specific role that they need to be really good at, but if they need information outside of their expertise they have people they can talk to.

What are your favorite social events at Keysight?

At the Loveland site, we have a “snack attack” every month. A lot of food is brought in and everyone takes a break from work to eat and socialize. I love it because I meet a lot of people that I don’t normally see every day. There’s also an ultimate Frisbee group that plays on Thursday's, and it’s really nice to just being able to get outside and run for a little bit during the work day.

If you could give one piece of advice to future interns, what would it be?

Do not be afraid to ask questions. One of the best parts about Keysight is that there is an open-door policy and anyone can speak with anyone. It’s an environment where everyone is willing to help and share their knowledge, so take advantage of it!

What has surprised you most about interning at Keysight?

I was surprised with how many people I was able to network with. I have talked to people from different regions such as Malaysia and Europe, and I get to work with people from different industries within the company. Every time I talk to someone, they not only provide me with information, they also give me the names of other employees who they believe can help me further.

I’m writing code to help automate the epoxy dispenser process as well as various small electrical engineering projects.

How does your role at Keysight complement your major and vice versa?

As a general engineer, I have experience in mechanical and electrical engineering, which is perfect for helping build cable connectors or take measurements. I've been doing all my coding in MATLAB, which is a staple of my degree as well.

What do you like best about working with your team?

Everyone is really supportive and friendly! I have sworn undying fealty to my mentor (also named Sarah), who always helps me when I have questions on my project. My manager is fun to talk to and makes sure I have everything I need.

Do you participate in any Keysight social events / activities? If so, which has been your favorite and why?

Yes! I love the Friday afternoon casual (pizza and drinks provided). I get to meet people who aren't in my pod and relax a little before the weekend.

What’s something you’ve learned while at Keysight?

Jobs are a lot more forgiving than college. At school, if I have a big project, I'll probably do the brunt of it in a few days. Here I have larger projects that I have the time to refine instead of worrying that I won't have enough time to finish.

If you could give one piece of advice to future interns, what would it be?

If you have a question, ask the internet, and if you're still stuck ask your mentor.

I've been tasked with designing a new SCPI Regression application. This application will take a list of SCPI commands with their associated parameters and send them to an instrument via a variety of communication paths. The intended use of this application is to indicate any operational failure on SCPI Commands that are currently implemented on a given instrument.

How does your role at Keysight complement your major and vice versa?

This internship is teaching me better programming practices, software optimization, and the soft skills needed to become a productive team member.

What do you like best about working with your team?

My team seems more like a group of friends than a group of coworkers. Everyone is friendly and helpful.

If you could give one piece of advice to future interns, what would it be?

Don't be afraid to ask for advice or help. This company is a vast resource of smart and knowledgeable people willing to assist with anything they can.

I’m designing a specialized graphing utility, including a graphical user interface (GUI). The program is intended to be a customizable diagnostic tool, tailored to the specific needs of the Digital ASIC Design Team. The current tool lacks certain features and usability which makes reading output difficult. The new tool will provide engineers with a powerful visualization tool that can be added to as future chip complexity requires.

How does your role at Keysight complement your major and vice versa?

As an electrical engineering major, ASIC design is one of the core purposes for my studies, and being able to work with the Digital ASIC Design Team lets me communicate with and learn from some of the most experienced engineers in the field. I can walk four feet to the next cube and talk about something I've only read about with someone who is not only doing it, but has been for years. Conversely, my education gives me the background knowledge and fundamentals to accelerate the speed at which I can understand the work being done (at least on some level) and plan my work accordingly.

What do you like best about working with your team?

Everyone is friendly, knowledgeable and welcoming. They genuinely want you to succeed. No question is too small, and you won't be embarrassed for not knowing the answer. Also, nearly everyone is available all the time. Even when coworkers have important meetings and tasks, they will stop what they are doing and assist you, direct you to someone else available, or immediately schedule a time in the future to talk.

Internships can be intimidating because you aren't sure how well you know and remember everything you've been taught as a student and are afraid that when your team and manager find out you don't know absolutely everything, you’ll be reprimanded or (gasp!) let go. The truth is the complete opposite. Not only are you not expected to know everything about everything, but when you ask, you will not be embarrassed in any way. In fact, you are often rewarded for asking for help.

Do you participate in any Keysight social events / activities? If so, which has been your favorite and why?

I attended the quarterly report, and to me it’s representative of Keysight's culture. Keysight employees are invested in how the company is doing, and Keysight cares enough tell them exactly that. In my experience that is quite rare. Also, the highest-level manager present (who gave the presentation) laughed and joked with employees and even poked fun at times. It shows that Keysight is a company that knows that there is more to an enjoyable job than money and there is more to a good business than profits.

What’s something you’ve learned while at Keysight?

I've learned so much already that it's difficult to say just one thing, but in my opinion the most important skill is learning itself. I hear it frequently when I talk to the engineers here, but if you knew everything about your design before you started, no one would want it when it was finished. You have to constantly learn how to do things you've never done before, while applying what you've learned in ways customers can actually use.

If you could give one piece of advice to future interns, what would it be?

Leave your cube. I chose to spend the first few days entirely at my desk and it was horrible. Not only do you need a little exercise throughout the day, but you never know who you will run into in the hallways. There are so many talented and experienced individuals at this company and they have so much information to offer, professionally and otherwise. And surprisingly enough, after a while you’ll realize you have something to offer them as well. The entire experience is so much easier and more rewarding when you acknowledge that you are not working alone.

How would you compare working at Keysight to working on your degree?

Keysight is more accelerated and rewarding. I have probably learned more about C++ in the last month than I would have from a couple years of classes, and I've also learned about digital signal processing, different design languages, etc. The other part is about results. At school, you spend long hours doing homework and learning concepts for which you have no idea why you are learning. At Keysight everything you do, everything you work hard on, has a clear purpose. In the end, you might not get to see the complete end result of your efforts, but nothing you work on seems meaningless.

This summer I am heading the launch of Keysight's SpaceWire Protocol Trigger and Decode Software for Infiniium Oscilloscopes. While the name is quite a mouthful, the product is a software application for SpaceWire, an aerospace communications serial bus, on our high-performance oscilloscopes. I coordinate the project and determine its direction as well as write the copy for marketing deliverables. Through working directly with R&D, order fulfillment and customers, I’ve found that my job is the perfect balance of technical and non-technical work.

If you could spend time at another Keysight location, where would you go and why?

Both last year and this year I have worked with a developer in Manesar, India. She is brilliant and great to work with, despite the time differences, and I hope to one day have the chance to meet her in Manesar. I’ve also been speaking Chinese for nine years and am a minor in the language at school. I have enjoyed learning about our marketing and business campaigns in China, so I would love to be able to visit our location in Taiwan.

How does your role at Keysight complement your major and vice versa?

I work a lot with our protocol decode software. I launched three protocol decode software applications last year (ARINC 429, MIL-STD-1553, and I2S) and am launching one now (SpaceWire). In a technical sense, operating and giving feedback to development on Keysight equipment requires I use knowledge from school. But in a less technical sense, I think engineering in general gives us the ability to view and solve problems in a certain way. My "engineering mind" is always at work, even when I'm not working on something directly technical. It dictates the way I handle situations with customers, solve problems with R&D, and determine the direction of my project.

What do you like best about working with your team?

Working with my team is great. They're hilarious, brilliant, and some of the friendliest people I have ever worked with. My favorite tradition we have is going to Costco for samples and lunch. It is a very fast-paced journey through this incredible store where we first try every sample in the store. Then, we go to the food court and each person orders one item from each category: a main dish, a drink or ice cream, and a desert. It's ridiculous, but ultimately, if you can have a great time with your coworkers at Costco, then you know you have a really special team.

Do you participate in any Keysight social events / activities? If so, which has been your favorite and why?

I do. Last year, I played in the disc golf tournament at Keysight Colorado Springs. I am absolutely terrible. But, luckily, the teams are matched by skill level, and I had some pretty amazing players on my team. Since it’s truly a team sport, we still won second place. And while I was not MVP, I still had a great time playing and was very proud of our accomplishment.

What’s something you’ve learned while at Keysight?

I'm a very high-energy person and I was nervous to start my internship because a desk job has never been my thing. Luckily, there really is no place like Keysight for an environment that fits all types. At Keysight, we understand that everyone learns and functions differently, and we create an environment that molds to that. So, while my friend in ASIC design likes to work for 8 hours straight, I like to get up, move around, go to Costco, make phone calls in my car, go to a meeting, read the news, talk to my manager, call my mom, go home, log back on my laptop at night, email people overseas, etc. My schedule works for me and his schedule works for him. At Keysight I learned to know myself, and when you are on a schedule that works well for you, you perform at your job remarkably and unlike anyone else -- and that is what make Keysight solutions great.

If you could give one piece of advice to future interns, what would it be?

Keysight is a big company. It might not be as big as some of the other companies that recruit at your school, but it will be a shock. You're probably going to have to communicate with people overseas and it might have to happen at weird times of the night. Embrace it. I have the hardest time with UK accents from outside of London, but I was never alone for my first few phone calls. Now that I'm getting used it, I feel much more comfortable contributing to the conversations. It takes time but it is a great experience.

What has surprised you most about interning at Keysight?

I've always been surprised, and a little bit overwhelmed, by how educated people are at Keysight. I was revising a paper for someone I had worked with before in Switzerland and he has an entire alphabet soup after his formal name on the paper. Now I'm not sure if I'm supposed to still call him "Richard"? Ultimately, what's really cool at Keysight is how friendly and helpful even some of the most brilliant researchers in the world are.

Any funny stories you’d like to share about your Keysight experience?

My team makes videos for the Keysight Oscilloscopes YouTube channel. On my first day last year, after a trip to Costco, I was in charge of holding the mic for Keysight’s Infiniium Product Manager as he filmed an episode on noise called the "Noise catcher." He dressed up as the crocodile hunter and brought a portable oscilloscope around the campus "catching" noise. It was hilarious and a great experience.

How would you compare working at Keysight to working on your degree?

I definitely like the workplace more than the classroom, but that's not to say that Keysight isn't a learning experience. I am constantly improving my writing and communication skills, as well as learning more about the technical aspects of our products. This summer, I’ve been spending a lot of time learning about the satellite industry for my product. I even get to meet with the European Space Agency next week. Part of being an engineer is this drive to learn -- this devout curiosity that consumes all we do. I find this drive all around me during my daily activities and I have found that through being surrounded by brilliant, kind and helpful people, I’m constantly growing with Keysight.

I'm creating a new interface for the user-defined functions to support C/C++ code, which will improve performance and support a greater number of source signals.

If you could spend time at another Keysight location, where would you go and why?

I'd go to London in a heartbeat. I'd love to live in another country for a while, and the (limited) time that I've spent in London has convinced me that it would be a fun place to live and work.

How does your role at Keysight complement your major and vice versa?

I am currently pursuing an emphasis in systems programming, and I have a research fellowship with the Distributed Computing Systems Group at my university. My work there has involved embedded systems and some OS-level programming, and it has given me a great insight into the sort of low-level code that Keysight specializes in. My experience is software engineering also helps me plan out the structure of my project and how it can fit with the existing code.

What do you like best about working with your team?

I've never been made to feel stupid, even after asking what I believe to be stupid questions. It's not even just because I'm an intern and people expect it; everyone here likes to help, and a lack of knowledge on one subject or another is just a reason to learn, not to feel embarrassed.

Do you participate in any Keysight social events / activities? If so, which has been your favorite and why?

I have really enjoyed climbing the Incline a few mornings before work. It's an amazing workout, and it has been a good bonding experience with some of my coworkers. The best part is the sense of achievement upon reaching the top, and the encouragement from the others helps a lot.

What’s something you’ve learned while at Keysight?

I've learned a lot about oscilloscopes and signal processing, but there's so much I don't understand. Luckily, I'm surrounded by good resources.

If you could give one piece of advice to future interns, what would it be?

Go to every meeting to which you're invited because there will probably be pizza or bagels.

What has surprised you most about interning at Keysight?

The flexibility of hours is really great. I can come in and leave at any time, as long as I do what I need to and work hard. It's nice to be able to work earlier in the day, and to be able to work more during the week to take a half day on Friday.

Any funny stories you’d like to share about your Keysight experience?

I'm so bad at Frisbee golf.

How would you compare working at Keysight to working on your degree?

They're totally different experiences, of course. Getting the degree is all about accumulating knowledge and showing that it's being retained through tests and homework assignments. It's all structured, and it can get quite formulaic. Working here is the application of all of that knowledge, and it's all new experiences. We're making new software and solving new problems as we encounter them, which is very satisfying. Of course, there's a lot of learning along the way, but it's all applicable to a real scenario.

I’m working on Design and Verification for Analog ICs. One of the ICs that I’m working on will be used in future high volume oscilloscopes.

If you could spend time at another Keysight location, where would you go and why?

I’d like to go to the Santa Clara location because that’s where Keysight Labs is located and I’d like to work on the most cutting edge technology at Keysight. Also, working in the Bay Area would be just as cool.

What do you like best about working with your team?

Everyone in the team I work with has many years of experience in the field, which helps me learn about designing analog ICs. If I have any questions, there is no fear of asking something “simple” or “stupid” because everyone understands that I’m here to supplement my education.

If you could give one piece of advice to future interns, what would it be?

Do not be afraid to ask questions. That's the best way to have a better understanding of what you're working on. Also, attend intern meetings so that you can get some free food.

How would you compare working at Keysight to working on your degree?

Working at Keysight is like working on a challenging and fun project at school that combines everything I’ve learned. At school, in addition to projects, there is still homework and exams, which are just very specific problems for specific classes. Even the school projects mostly are contextualized for that particular class. However, at Keysight you have to use everything you learned and you’ll still have to learn some stuff that you’re not going to talk about in class.

I am working on epoxy dispense development. I'm also writing code in MATLAB to assist designers when parts are updated with new versions.

If you could spend time at another Keysight location, where would you go and why?

As somebody who has never been overseas, I would love to visit the site in Barcelona, Spain.

How does your role at Keysight complement your major and vice versa?

At Keysight I use many of the subjects I have learned through my degree, while also learning more in areas I hadn't been given the opportunity to in the past. I believe the experience I'm gaining at Keysight will assist me in my final year of college as well as my career after college.

What do you like best about working with your team?

My team is full of brilliant people who are very helpful, but they are also easy to be around and can have fun. Being on a team that can get stuff done and also be goofy makes work much more enjoyable.

Do you participate in any Keysight social events / activities?

I usually participate in any Keysight social events that come up because it's nice to network with people who don't work in my department and learn more about what Keysight does. My favorite social event is the weekly party on Fridays. It's an event I look forward to all week long.

What’s something you’ve learned while at Keysight?

In my time at Keysight, I've learned that there's still so much to learn. I've realized that college gets you the job, but the job teaches you to be a life-long learner.

If you could give one piece of advice to future interns, what would it be?

If you don't understand something, ask questions. As an intern, you can use the "I'm an intern" excuse and people will understand that you're new and just trying to get a grasp for as much information as you can while you're here.

What has surprised you most about interning at Keysight?

I was surprised when I showed up nervous on my first day but quickly felt welcome and comfortable.

Benefits

We offer a competitive benefits and pay portfolio that fits employee needs and rewards high performance. Work/life integration, community involvement and employee development are fundamental to our business process.

Great Place to Work

Keysight.com

Accommodations

You have the right to request reasonable assistance if you have a disability or are unable to use or access the online job search system due to your disability. Please call 262-439-1921 (US and Canada only) or email job_posting@Keysight.com. Use of this option is available only to those needing accommodation related to a disability.